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Can I refuse MS Authenticator? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by Martin@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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So my company decided to migrate office suite and email etc to Microsoft365. Whatever. But for 2FA login they decided to disable the option to choose "any authenticator" and force Microsoft Authenticator on the (private) phones of both employees and volunteers. Is there any valid reason why they would do this, like it's demonstrably safer? Or is this a battle I can pick to shield myself a little from MS?

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[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

reasons why restricting users to MS Authenticator would be preferable

As a security professional:

Under most situations, it is equally as good as any other 2FA app.
Within the Microsoft ecosystem, it provides additional security features above and beyond simple 2FA.

If your workplace is leaning heavily on the Microsoft ecosystem, especially their cloud offerings like Azure, then restricting employees to the Microsoft app is a no-brainer, and actually quite reasonable.

For example, if they happen to have a hybrid domain with an on-prem domain controller syncing with Azure (forgive me for using obsolete terms, I’m a greybeard), then they can control all access to all company assets, including 2FA. If an employee leaves the company, they can also disable the Microsoft app at a moment’s notice by disabling the employee’s Microsoft account. Because everything is hooked into Azure, it sends push notifications down to all company assets - like the Microsoft 2FA app - to unhook all of the company’s credentials and prevent employee access after the fact.

You cannot do this with other 2FA apps.

[–] Saik0Shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This is disingenuous though... You can simply reset the TOTP seed on any account to achieve the same operation. We use AuthLite on a local domain... I can disable an account domain-wide by simply resetting the TOTP seed or disabling the account. Using an Azure domain and MS app doesn't add any value in that regards. All of the online office stuff can be linked onto a local domain as well and would also be disabled.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You don't even need to disable an ex-employee's ability to generate TOTP codes... Once the account is disabled what use are the codes?

[–] Saik0Shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Well that's a bit of the point of my post... why are you making it out like disabling the 2fa app matters?

Edit: Swype typos!